Relief of Fort Vermillion
Prelude
The Relief of Fort Vermillion was a battle which took place during RY618 in the jungles of the Southwestern Threshold, within the Land of Crushing Fragrance.
Early in the year, a succession dispute had broken out amongst the nobility of An Teng, Following a succession dispute amongst the princelings of An Teng which had required intercession of the Imperial Satrap to prevent ascent of a vocally anti-Realm Prince, the losing claimant and his loyal forces had retreated from An Teng to the jungles of Crushing Fragrance, taking with them some elements of the Tengese princely panoply.
To cement the legitimacy of the Realm's selected candidate, this rival needed to be brought to heel and the treasures recovered. The Vermillion Legion under strategoi Cynis Deyan was assigned the task, and despite taking heavy casualties to locals and disease managed to catch the rebels and reclaim the artifacts after several months.
However, the detachment of the Red Piss which had been deployed was left badly mauled, and their location deep within the jungles made withdrawal nearly impossible… while the Scarlet Empire rarely values the lives of the Vermillion, their possession of Tengese heirlooms which would be lost should they be defeated necessitated a plan to pull them out.
Official Account
According to the official record, the soldiers were ordered to fortify their position while the Imperial Legions attempted to organize a relief force, setting up a walled encampment they dubbed 'Fort Vermillion', placed on a river island to provide further defense.
As the situation grew more desperate and the Legions failed to come to an agreement, House Peleps exerted pressure on the Imperial Navy station at the Isle of Breaching Sharks to intervene. The result was a small flotilla of boats, led by the Swift Midday Brilliance-class vessel Striking Spear of Danaa'd under command of trierarch Ledaal Kari, which moved up the River of Ever-Flowing Blood and followed its tributaries northward into the Land of Crushing Fragrance to reach Fort Vermillion, arriving just as local warbands had managed to breach Fort Vermillion's walls.
Though most of the Vermillion Legionnaires perished before they could withdraw, the Naval force joined the fighting and was able to load the Tengese heirlooms and a number of injured soldiers onto their vessels before pulling back to An Teng.
Aftermath and Controversy
In the aftermath, the artifacts were returned to the Tengese amidst great celebrations. Kari and the Navy crews were commended by the admiral of the Fire Fleet for their bravery, but Legion commanders questioned the official account of the battle, which the Navy had submitted to the Ministry of Scrupulous Observance of History, claiming that Fire Fleet intervention had not been needed and that the Legionnaires had abandoned a tenable position not under immediate attack due to cowardice. The surviving officers were executed for this cowardice, and for ceding the Tengese treasures to the Navy.
The Scrupulous Observers did not retract approval of the official account, but placed it under review (where it remained until the Ministry's dissolution in RY765.
